Recovery of bioalcohols with potential as biofuels using an energetically sustainable separation strategy

The recovery of ethanol and butanol in aqueous solutions using adsorption on bone char was analyzed. Adsorption kinetics and isotherms were quantified where the effect of initial concentration, pH and temperature on alcohol adsorption was evaluated. Results showed that butanol was preferably adsorbed than ethanol due to its higher hydrophobicity. In particular, the maximum adsorption capacities of bone char to ethanol and butanol adsorption were 7.58 and 8.78 mmol/g, respectively, at pH 6 and 30 °C. It was also observed that pH and temperature significantly affected the recovery of these potential biofuels